Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

W W W. P A C E . E D U / D Y S O N 13 A isha Mann-Cooper '12, ASDS, Acting A isha Mann-Cooper is a line producer, producer, production manager, writer, director, and actress whose most recent project is as producer of the psychological thriller, Goodbye, Bu e ly. Paul Ryan '86, Literature and Communication Paul Ryan is a senior producer of Dateline on NBC and an Emmy Award–winning producer in primetime network television. Dario Spina '91, English Language and Literature Dario Spina, as Chief Marketing Officer, oversees the marketing and creative solutions arm of ViacomCBS, including ad sales that integrate brands into the cultural conversation through custom content. Maria Weaver '92, Speech Communications Maria Weaver is president of WEA, Warner Recorded Music's global a ist and label services network, with experience holding numerous senior marketing positions. Marcos Gonsalez Marcos sta ed actively writing in his 20s, first in the form of literary criticism for undergraduate papers or personal essays, and then later more seriously for publication. He describes his writing process as slow, and says he needs to sit with an idea for some time, o en fussing over words and syntax, which is actually his favorite pa of the process. An assistant professor of English at Adelphi University, he is best known as an essayist, with his work having appeared in Inside Higher Ed, Catapult Magazine, The Los Angeles Review, and The New Inquiry. Recently, he has also authored a full-length memoir, Pedro's Theory: Reimagining the Promised Land, which he describes as about the quest for understanding one's past and pu ing into perspective the social, historical, and political contexts that shape a childhood, which might not have been fully apprehended until later in life. According to Gonsalez, it is about how we work through trauma and find some way in which to live with it for a be er future. "The book is about carving out spaces for queer people of color, for seeing how we can make a be er and kinder world for all types of people," he said. Published in January 2021, the book was named one of 22 LGBTQ+ Books You Absolutely Need to Read This Year by Advocate, and a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by LitHub. It was also well reviewed by The New York Times and Kirkus Reviews. The idea for Pedro's Theory came about when Gonsalez sta ed writing his disse ation for his doctorate at the Graduate Center at CUNY, as questions he was asking of literature and critical theory in the disse ation were sparking investigations into his own life and mind. Seeing linkages between the critical, professional, and personal, Gonsalez eventually realized Pedro's Theory was a separate project from his disse ation, as well as something he wanted to write for all audiences. In fact, this personal process is a big pa of what he hopes readers will take away from the story. "I hope readers see how the critical and theoretical can emerge from life writing. Pa icularly for marginalized writers, that our lives and experiences can be the stuff of theory," he said. Gonsalez has been motivated by responses from critics and readers alike to his "strange li le book mixing memoir and literary criticism and cultural commentary," and looks forward to seeing what fu her conversations and responses it generates. He is also working on a book-length study on how queer of color theory speaks to the issues and concerns facing our world, organizing the book around one significant theorist who has shaped his own writing and thinking, and combining biography, theory, history, literary criticism, and autobiography to address a field of study and thinkers that have really changed his life for the be er.

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